Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT)

"HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. — More than six weeks after declaring an environmental emergency in this upstate village, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made his first visit here on Sunday, announcing that a new filter system had successfully cleared a toxic chemical known as PFOA from the municipal water supply."

"NEWARK — Elevated levels of lead caused officials in New Jersey’s largest school district on Wednesday to shut off water fountains at 30 school buildings until more tests could be conducted, officials said."

State and federal officials Friday announced a plan to clean up more than a century's worth of toxic pollution from the lower eight miles of the Passaic river, in one of the largest and most expensive projects under EPA's 35-year-old Superfund program.

"HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. — One resident called 911 asking whether the village’s water would burn his skin off. Families have lined up to have their blood drawn and their wells tested. Banks stopped giving out mortgages, and some local residents stopped washing their dishes, their clothes and themselves. Erin Brockovich has been to town."

"Young children in Western New York suffer from the highest rate of lead poisoning in the upstate region – a rate that’s more than three times higher than that in Flint, Mich., where a cost-driven switch to an alternate water system left 4 percent of children tested with signs of lead exposure."

The Spring 2016 series of live webcasts, hosted by NYU's Science, Health & Environmental Reporting Program and moderated by the Wall Street Journal's Robert Lee Hotz, began with climate change on Feb 24. Upcoming events include physics (Mar 9), genetic modification (Apr 6), the neuroscience of violence (Apr 20), human evolution (May 4), followed by additional events in the fall.

This is the first in a series of Kavli Conversations on Science Communication, hosted by NYU's Science, Health & Environmental Reporting Program. Attend in person or via interactive, live webcast, 6:30 p.m.

"A man-made chemical used in the manufacture of stain-resistant carpets, waterproof clothing, non-stick cooking pans and other products that make life less messy has spread so far through the environment that it can be found everywhere from the fish in the Delaware River to polar bears in the Arctic — and even some drinking water in North Jersey."